Americans United - Mike Huckabeehttps://au.org/tags/mike-huckabee
enBitten By A Tiger: Huckabee Must Pay For Unauthorized Use Of Songhttps://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/bitten-by-a-tiger-huckabee-must-pay-for-unauthorized-use-of-song
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Former Arkansas governor and Religious Right favorite Mike Huckabee has not been having a good year.</p>
<p>Huckabee won the Iowa GOP caucus in 2008 and hoped to repeat that magic in 2016. But he ended up struggling for attention in a crowded field of Republican presidential candidates.</p>
<p>In an effort to gin up his far-right evangelical base, Huckabee traveled to Kentucky in September of 2015 for a campaign rally with Kim Davis, a clerk in Rowan County who became a folk hero to the Religious Right after she refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.</p>
<p>During the rally, Davis took the stage as the song “Eye of the Tiger,” a number-one hit from 1982 by the band Survivor, blared over loudspeakers. The song, which served as the theme for “Rocky III,” has become an anthem for underdogs everywhere.</p>
<p>The chorus goes: “It’s the eye of the tiger/It’s the thrill of the fight/Risin’ up to the challenge/Of our rival/And the last known survivor/Stalks his prey in the night/And he’s watching us all with the/Eye of the tiger.”</p>
<p>There was a slight problem, however: No one in Huckabee’s campaign thought to ask the members of Survivor for permission to use the song. Frankie Sullivan, the guitarist for the band and co-author of “Eye of the Tiger,” wasn’t pleased and made that known.</p>
<p>Huckabee decided on an unusual defense: His appearance with Davis, Huckabee’s attorneys argued, wasn’t really a campaign event, it was a “religious assembly” – so you see, Huckabee had a right under the First Amendment to use the song!</p>
<p>Nice try. Rude Music, the firm that owns the copyright for “Eye of the Tiger,” sued. An attorney for Rude Music pointed out that Huckabee had clearly listed the Davis rally as a campaign event.</p>
<p>The media certainly <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/08/politics/kim-davis-kentucky-clerk-2016-candidates-chris-christie/">treated it that way</a>. Davis, who had been in jail for her defiance, emerged to a cheering crowd. Serving as emcee of the event, Huckabee crowed, “If somebody needs to go to jail, I’m willing to go in her place!” Other GOP candidates were frozen out of the rally. Huckabee wanted Davis – and the limelight – all to himself.</p>
<p>The lawsuit over the use of the song was settled out of court. It recently <a href="http://www.kentucky.com/latest-news/article86239672.html">came to light</a> that Huckabee had to pony up $25,000.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="/files/tiger%20eye.jpg" style="width: 700px; height: 467px;" /></p>
<p><em>Here's looking at you, Mike Huckabee.</em></p>
<p>And now for the coda: The Iowa caucuses were held on Feb. 1, 2016. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was the winner with 27.6 percent. Donald Trump came in second with 24.3 percent. Huckabee captured a pathetic 1.8 percent of the vote. The next day, he dropped out of the race.</p>
<p>As for Davis, she has of late been trying to <a href="http://www.protectthyneighbor.org/posts/2016/6/21/idxhixi7vvtqdssy430wty26xeko2t">claim victory</a> in her strange case, but the fact is, same-sex couples in Rowan County are being given wedding licenses and are getting married. Davis and her allies may try to spin it differently, but so far she has lost.</p>
<p>In a way, it’s ironic that Huckabee and Davis tried to co-opt that old rock anthem. “Eye of the Tiger” speaks of a heroic underdog who “Had the guts, got the glory” and “Went the distance.”</p>
<p>That hardly describes a pair of fundamentalist zealots who sought the power to use their rigid religion as a vehicle to discriminate against others and deny them their legal rights.</p>
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</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/descriptions-and-activities-religious-right-groups">Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/survivor">Survivor</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/eye-of-the-tiger">eye of the tiger</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/mike-huckabee">Mike Huckabee</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/kim-davis-frankie-sullivan">Kim Davis. Frankie Sullivan</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/rocky-iii">Rocky III</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/ted-cruz">Ted Cruz</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/rude-music">Rude Music</a></span></div></div>Tue, 28 Jun 2016 15:08:10 +0000Rob Boston12038 at https://au.orghttps://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/bitten-by-a-tiger-huckabee-must-pay-for-unauthorized-use-of-song#commentsOne Year Has Passed Since The Marriage Equality Ruling. Let’s Find Out Just How Many Pastors Have Been Forced To Marry Same-Sex Couples https://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/one-year-has-passed-since-the-marriage-equality-ruling-let-s-find-out-just
<a href="/about/people/barry-w-lynn">Barry W. Lynn</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>We’re fast approaching the one-year anniversary of <a href="http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/14-556_3204.pdf"><em>Obergefell v. Hodges</em></a>, a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that had the effect of extending marriage equality nationwide.</p>
<p>Prior to that decision, which marks its first anniversary on Sunday, several right-wing pastors warned that they would go to prison rather than obey the ruling. These far-right clerics, joined by Religious Right leaders, insisted that America’s pastors would somehow be forced to preside at the weddings of same-sex couples. They boldly proclaimed their willingness to go behind bars rather than obey.</p>
<p>Pastor Robert Jeffress of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, who was recently named to Donald Trump’s evangelical advisory council, vowed to engage in civil disobedience.</p>
<p>“That may mean we experience jail time…but as the scripture says, we ought to obey God rather than man, and that’s our choice,” Jeffress <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2015/06/10/pastors-we-dont-have-to-obey-supreme-court-on-gay-marriage/">told The Daily Caller website</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.christiantoday.com/article/christian.pastors.vow.civil.disobedience.campaign.if.supreme.court.allows.same.sex.marriage/56034.htm">Appearing on a Texas radio station</a>, Rick Scarborough, a Baptist pastor and Religious Right leader, urged members of the clergy to sign a petition pledging to “resist all government efforts to require them to accept gay marriage, and they will accept any fine and jail time to protect their religious freedom and the freedom of others.”</p>
<p>Richard Land, a former Southern Baptist Convention official, raised the specter of pastors in prison as well. Asked by Newsmax TV if the nation could come to the point where pastors end up behind bars for refusing to preside at marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERfUZSK6OBg">Land replied</a>, “It could.”</p>
<p>Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee really went around the bend. He said marriage equality could lead to <a href="http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/huckabee-gay-marriage-will-lead-criminalization-christianity">“the criminalization of Christianity.”</a></p>
<p>Huckabee <a href="http://www.cnsnews.com/blog/michael-w-chapman/huckabee-if-court-rules-gay-marriage-civil-right-pastors-must-comply-or">also said</a>, “If the courts rule that people have a civil right – not only to be a homosexual but a civil right to have a homosexual marriage – then a homosexual couple coming to a pastor, who believes in Biblical marriage, who says, ‘I can’t perform that wedding,’ will now be breaking the law.”</p>
<p><img alt="" src="/files/pastor%20prison.jpg" style="width: 700px; height: 467px;" /></p>
<p><em>According to the Religious Right, marriage equality was supposed to lead to this. </em></p>
<p>So here we are one year later. Has any of this come to pass? To answer that question, Americans United has created a <a href="http://numberofministersforcedtomarrysamesexcouples.com/">new website</a> to keep count of the number of pastors who have been forced under penalty of law to preside at a same-sex couple's wedding ceremony. </p>
<p>I believe you will find <a href="http://numberofministersforcedtomarrysamesexcouples.com/">this site</a> interesting and useful, so please visit it today – and help us spread the word by sharing it widely.</p>
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</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/marriage">Marriage</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/marriage-equality-0">Marriage Equality</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/richard-land">richard land</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/robert-jeffress">Robert Jeffress</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/mike-huckabee">Mike Huckabee</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/rick-scarborough">Rick Scarborough</a></span></div></div>Thu, 23 Jun 2016 17:36:07 +0000Rob Boston12031 at https://au.orghttps://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/one-year-has-passed-since-the-marriage-equality-ruling-let-s-find-out-just#commentsVoting For Jesus?: Candidates Seek To Outdo One Another With Religiosityhttps://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/voting-for-jesus-candidates-seek-to-outdo-one-another-with-religiosity
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">The Iowa caucuses -- now with even more religion! </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>The Iowa caucuses are today, and, despite what you may have heard, Jesus Christ is not appearing on the ballot.</p><p>Several of his close friends are, though. As voting approaches, Republican candidates have been working hard to win endorsements from prominent conservative evangelicals by explaining just how much they plan to mix up religion and government if elected.</p><p>Here’s a round-up of recent activities of note:</p><p><em>Falwell endorses Trump: </em>U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was the first Republican to announce his candidacy. He did so in March of 2015 at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. This led lots of observers (including me) to assume that Cruz had an in with Jerry Falwell Jr. and would win his endorsement. Nope. Last week, <a href="http://www.newsadvance.com/news/local/jerry-falwell-jr-endorses-trump-for-president/article_e5050cfa-c44e-11e5-8671-4bc48d90e9db.html">Falwell issued a personal endorsement of Donald Trump</a>. Trump, I should note, is twice divorced, used to boast about being pro-choice on abortion and has never, until recently, had a tendency to discuss religion. He now holds himself out as Defender of the Faith and has asserted that if he is elected, you’re going to hear a lot more people saying <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/sep/25/donald-trump-you-will-hear-merry-christmas-if-im-e/">“Merry Christmas.”</a> Many people think this is all an act, but he still got Falwell’s blessing.</p><p>Go figure.</p><p><em>Cruz says he’s a Christian first, an American second: </em>Not all conservative evangelicals are buying into Trump mania, and Cruz retains great popularity with this segment of the electorate. He has been wooing them steadily for more than a year. Cruz <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/ted-cruz-tells-reporters-im-201000179.html">recently remarked</a> during a visit to New Hampshire, “I’m a Christian first, American second, conservative third and Republican fourth. I’ll tell ya, there are a whole lot of people in this country that feel exactly the same way.”</p><p>As several commentators pointed out, Cruz and his supporters would probably not react well to a candidate who announced, “I am a Muslim first and an American second.”</p><p><em>Rubio spars with atheist: </em>During a recent town hall meeting in Waverly, Iowa, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/01/27/how-the-mainstream-media-missed-the-boat-on-marco-rubio-vs-an-atheist/">was challenged</a> by an atheist who said he was concerned over the candidate’s overt religiosity. Several reporters noted Rubio’s reply; he said his faith is “the single greatest influence in my life.” What happened next was not as well reported, if at all. Rubio’s campaign immediately issued a fundraising letter boasting about how he had stared down an atheist in public.</p><p>“I want to live in a country where Americans feel comfortable living out their faith, in private AND in public,” the appeal reads. “But we’ve seen from the attacks liberals will level – and the policies of the Obama Administration – that some on the left don’t agree. I’ve promised to voters everywhere I go: I will not be a president who will pit you against any other group of Americans, but I’m going to be honest about my values.”</p><p><em>The Washington Post</em> reported that Rubio’s last-minute strategy for Iowa is to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/marco-rubio-talks-to-iowa-about-god/2016/01/26/5f2abff2-c2fb-11e5-9693-933a4d31bcc8_story.html">talk about God</a> even more. Steve Benen, a former AU staffer who now blogs for the "Rachel Maddow Show" on MSNBC, <a href="http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/week-god-13016">noted</a> that <em>Time</em> recently asked Rubio why he hasn’t turned out to be the savior many in the GOP expected. Rubio replied, “Let me be clear about one thing: There’s only one savior and it’s not me. It’s Jesus Christ who came down to Earth and died for our sins.”</p><p><em>Huckabee and Santorum remain in the race; few care: </em>Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, won the Iowa caucuses in 2008. Rick Santorum, former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, won in 2012, just barely edging out Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts. This year, no one really cares about Huckabee and Santorum, and their evangelical pals have deserted them. What happened? There is no <a href="http://davidgushee.religionnews.com/2016/01/06/evangelicals-carson-cruz-huckabee-santorum/">shortage of opinions</a> about that, but I think it boils down to pragmatism. Huckabee hasn’t held office since 2007, and Santorum lost his Senate seat in 2006 by a whopping 18 points. Both men are rapidly becoming evangelical versions of <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/05/us/harold-e-stassen-who-sought-gop-nomination-for-president-9-times-dies-at-93.html?pagewanted=all">Harold Stassen</a>.</p><p><em>Sanders says he’s not involved with organized religion:</em> While most of the action has been on the Republican side of the aisle, one of the Democratic candidates did say something interesting about religion recently. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) told <em>The Washington Post</em> that he is not “actively involved with organized religion” – an admission few candidates on the national stage ever make. Sanders, who was raised Jewish, said he believes in God and added, “I think everyone believes in God in their own ways. To me, it means that all of us are connected, all of life is connected, and that we are all tied together.” (I know some atheists who would sharply disagree with that statement.)</p><p>Much of this focus on religion is due to the demographics of Iowa’s electorate. Something like 60 percent of Republican caucus attendees there are social conservatives. New Hampshire, which contains fewer of these folks, votes next on Feb. 9, so there might be a bit of let up in the God talk – but don’t expect it to last. South Carolina votes after that on Feb. 20, and I hear many voters there love them some of that old-time religion mixed with politics.</p><p>And remember, it’s still 10 months until November.</p><p> </p><p> </p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/other-issues-regarding-churches-and-politics">Other Issues regarding Churches and Politics</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/iowa">Iowa</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/south-carolina">South Carolina</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/new-hampshire">New Hampshire</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/ted-cruz">Ted Cruz</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/bernie-sanders">Bernie Sanders</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/rick-santorum">Rick Santorum</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/mike-huckabee">Mike Huckabee</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/marco-rubio">Marco Rubio</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/jerry-falwell-jr-0">Jerry Falwell Jr.</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/steve-benen">Steve Benen</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/harold-stassen">Harold Stassen</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/rachel-maddow">Rachel Maddow</a></span></div></div>Mon, 01 Feb 2016 15:19:33 +0000Rob Boston11698 at https://au.orghttps://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/voting-for-jesus-candidates-seek-to-outdo-one-another-with-religiosity#commentsCast Aside: Huckabee Dismayed By Lack Of Religious Right Supporthttps://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/cast-aside-huckabee-dismayed-by-lack-of-religious-right-support
<a href="/about/people/simon-brown">Simon Brown</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">While it’s not surprising that Huckabee is upset, it is a bit shocking to see him biting the base that fed him.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) has decided the Religious Right isn’t actually religious enough for his liking.</p><p>As you may have noticed (or not noticed), the GOP presidential hopeful is doing poorly in the polls. In the <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/2016_republican_presidential_nomination-3823.html">latest Real Clear Politics average</a> of national polls taken January 4-18, Huckabee is second to last among the remaining candidates with just 2 percent. Only former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.), another one-time Religious Right darling, is doing worse.</p><p>The former Baptist preacher and Fox News star, who won the 2008 Iowa Caucus as well as six other state primaries before eventually ending his campaign to clear the way for U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), seems flabbergasted that his allies in the Religious Right are not throwing their support behind him this time.</p><p>In a recent interview with Fox radio correspondent Todd Starnes, Huckabee railed against the Religious Right with a long list of grievances (thanks to Right Wing Watch for <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/dejected-mike-huckabee-now-just-burning-bridges-religious-right">the transcript</a>).</p><p>“[I] think they’re scared to death that if a guy like me got elected, I would actually do what I said I would do, and that is I would focus on the personhood of every individual, we would abolish abortion… we would ignore the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage decision. And you know what the result would be? A lot of these organizations wouldn’t have the ability to do urgent fundraising because if we slay the dragon, what dragon do they continue to fight? And so, for many of them, it could be a real detriment to their organization's abilities to gin up their supporters and raise the contributions….”</p><p>But Huckabee didn’t stop there. Perhaps summoning the most damning criticism he has to offer, he called some far-right religious conservatives a bunch of phonies (gasp!). He said some groups and individuals are operating by “secular standards,” don’t truly trust in the power of God and “will talk about prayer but [they] really don’t necessarily believe that it will change things.”</p><p>While it’s not surprising that Huckabee is upset, it is a bit shocking to see him biting the base that fed him. He certainly had a lot of support in 2008, but that was an eternity ago in political time and there has never been any indication that the Religious Right intended to rally behind him in 2016.</p><p>Maybe Huckabee expected the Religious Right to function as a disciplined voting bloc, but has that ever really been true? It’s certainly the <a href="https://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/bumpy-lane-religious-right-operative-seeks-to-build-another-church-based">dream of many far-right groups</a>, but so far this election cycle Religious Right supporters seem torn between a few candidates, most notably Donald Trump and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). In early January, a <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/poll-donald-trump-still-leads-gop-field-n490116">NBC News|SurveyMonkey Weekly Election Tracking Poll</a> found that 33 percent of white evangelical Christians said they supported Trump, 20 percent said they like Cruz and even 12 percent were for retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson. There is anything but a consensus, here.</p><p>It also doesn’t help Huckabee that he hasn’t held elected office since 2007 and his only other recent claim to fame is a television show.</p><p>Barring some sort of divine intervention, Huckabee will likely return to television after this presidential election is over. When that happens, he may come crawling back to his old friends on the far right – this time in pursuit of ratings rather than votes. </p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/other-issues-regarding-churches-and-politics">Other Issues regarding Churches and Politics</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/descriptions-and-activities-religious-right-groups">Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/fox-news">Fox News</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/mike-huckabee">Mike Huckabee</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/religious-right-0">Religious Right</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/2016-presidential-election">2016 Presidential Election</a></span></div></div>Thu, 21 Jan 2016 16:45:55 +0000Simon Brown11680 at https://au.orghttps://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/cast-aside-huckabee-dismayed-by-lack-of-religious-right-support#commentsOn Your Knees!: Cruz Insists That Good Leaders Need God https://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/on-your-knees-cruz-insists-that-good-leaders-need-god
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">There are nearly 35 million non-believers in America. It stretches the bounds of belief to think that among a group that large, there is not even one person who is qualified to lead this country.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>When most people consider the qualities they want in a president, things like the ability to manage the economy, forge political compromises and tend to foreign policy come to mind.</p><p>But U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz has an additional qualification: He believes it’s absolutely essential that the president be a believer who prays regularly.</p><p>“Any president who doesn’t begin every day on his knees isn’t fit to be commander in chief of this nation,” <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ted-cruz-atheists_5640b613e4b0411d30719f52">Cruz said last week</a> at an Iowa event called the National Religious Liberties Conference.</p><p>Cruz was responding to a question from Pastor Kevin Swanson of Colorado, a rising Religious Right star who hosted the forum. Swanson wanted to know how important it is for a president to “fear God”; he said this is the most important question he asks candidates.</p><p>Cruz’s answer was bad, but the fact that he was at the forum at all may be even worse. Swanson, who at times appears to be deranged, spent several minutes at the forum explaining that the Bible calls for gays to receive the death penalty.</p><p>As AU Executive Director Barry W. Lynn <a href="http://feministmajority.org/an-ugly-rant-is-met-with-silence/">noted</a> recently, Swanson ranted, “Yes, Leviticus 20:13 calls for the death penalty for homosexuals! Yes, in Romans 1:32 the Apostle Paul does say that homosexuals are worthy of death. His words, not mine! And I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ! And I am not ashamed of the truth of God’s word, and I am willing to go to jail for standing on the truth of the word of God!”</p><p>Swanson added that if his son married another man, “I’d sit in cow manure and I’d spread it all over my body. That is what I would do and I’m not kidding. I’m not laughing.”</p><p>Swanson’s event was so low-rent that only three GOP hopefuls attended – Cruz, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. And not one of them had the guts to challenge any of the poison Swanson spewed.</p><p>Cruz claims that only people of prayer are fit to the lead the nation, but given his evangelical views and his apparent agreement with the opinions of Swanson, it’s a pretty safe bet that his ideal president would have to do more than pray. He or she would have to embrace a fundamentalist version of Christianity as well.</p><p>A litmus test like that would exclude our earliest presidents. George Washington is an example. Despite pious artwork showing Washington kneeling in the snow in prayer at Valley Forge, there is no evidence that ever happened. In fact, Washington’s religious views were decidedly unorthodox.</p><p>Church-state scholar Steven K. Green <a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/julyaugust-2015-church-state/featured/the-invention-of-a-christian-america">calls Washington</a> “a rational theist in his approach to Christian doctrines, likely denying many traditional doctrines such as the virgin birth and the miracles….He was not orthodox for the day, and by contemporary standards, he may not have even been a Christian in the traditional sense.”</p><p>John Adams was a Unitarian who ridiculed the idea of the Trinity. He’s out too. Thomas Jefferson scoffed at the miracles of the Bible and rewrote the New Testament to strip away references to Jesus’ divinity. Jefferson <a href="http://www.stephenjaygould.org/ctrl/jefferson_short.html">did not believe</a> in the resurrection, the Trinity, original sin and a host of other Christian doctrines.</p><p>James Madison was nominally an Anglican but was notoriously tight-lipped about his personal religious beliefs. It’s possible that Madison hit the floorboards every morning, but if he did he never made a big deal out of it. A leading Madison biographer, Ralph Ketchum, believes our fourth president was a Deist.</p><p>A <a href="http://www.pewforum.org/2015/11/03/u-s-public-becoming-less-religious/">recent survey by the Pew Forum</a> found that 11 percent of Americans now say they have no belief in God. Given that the population of the country is about 318 million, that’s nearly 35 million non-believers. It stretches the bounds of belief to think that among a group that large, there is not even one person who is qualified to lead this country.</p><p>Cruz, of course, can believe what he wants and is free to impose any kind of qualification on candidates that he likes. But he and those who think like him should realize that their stubborn insistence that our leaders hew to certain forms of dogma only ensures that many talented and qualified people will be left behind.</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/other-issues-regarding-churches-and-politics">Other Issues regarding Churches and Politics</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/descriptions-and-activities-religious-right-groups">Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/ted-cruz">Ted Cruz</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/mike-huckabee">Mike Huckabee</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/bobby-jindal">Bobby Jindal</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/kevin-swanson">Kevin Swanson</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/george-washington">George Washington</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/john-adams">John Adams</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/thomas-jefferson">thomas jefferson</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/james-madison">James Madison</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/steven-k-green-0">Steven K. Green</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/pew-forum">Pew Forum</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/national-religious-liberties-conference">National Religious Liberties Conference</a></span></div></div>Fri, 13 Nov 2015 15:01:43 +0000Rob Boston11542 at https://au.orghttps://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/on-your-knees-cruz-insists-that-good-leaders-need-god#commentsLost Weekendhttps://au.org/church-state/november-2015-church-state/featured/lost-weekend
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Republican presidential hope­ful U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has a rather ambitious plan for day one of his term as chief executive.</p><p>“The third thing I intend to do on the first day in office is instruct the Department of Justice and the IRS and every other federal agency that the persecution of religious liberty ends today!” said Cruz, describing the third of a laundry list of actions that would kick off his hypothetical presidency. “That means that every serviceman and woman can worship the Lord God Almighty with all of his heart, mind and soul, and his commanding officer has nothing to say about it!”</p><p>Cruz laid out his plans Sept. 25 at the annual Values Voter Summit (VVS) in Washington, D.C., a Religious Right confab now in its 10th year that is sponsored by the Family Research Council (FRC), the American Family Association, the Liberty Institute and other far-right groups.</p><p>Always a crowd favorite, the Texas senator outlined a vision of “religious liberty” that really only applies to fundamentalist Christians, as evidenced by his praise of Rowan County, Ky., Clerk Kim Davis, who went to jail for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.</p><p>“Just a couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit Kim in a Kentucky jailhouse,” Cruz regaled attendees. “And I’ll tell you Kim and I, we embraced, and I told her, I said ‘Kim, thank you.’ I said, ‘Kim, you are inspiring millions across this country by standing for your faith.’” </p><p>Cruz was in his element at the VVS, where he earned several standing ovations from the crowd of about 2,700, in stark contrast to the fact that as of early October he was polling at just 5 percent in national surveys of Republican primary voters. It’s telling that a candidate who has drawn so little interest nationally would fare so well at the VVS, where Cruz topped the presidential straw poll for the third-straight year, with 35 percent. Such a result is typical for this gaggle of right-wing evangelical Christians who are often badly out of touch with reality.</p><p>For the uninitiated, the VVS is a bizarre world in which it is acceptable to hate an entire religion (Islam) if done in the name of patriotism, Christians are unable to practice their faith because of “persecution” by liberals, Planned Parenthood is unravelling the very fabric of society and President Barack Obama is, alternately, an iron-fisted near-dictator or a feckless incompetent.</p><p>Presided over by FRC President Tony Perkins and his sidekick, emcee Gil Mertz, this year’s Summit featured, at times, standing-room-only crowds and an expanded exhibit floor, which was packed with an array of far-right groups and causes.</p><p>One table featured zealous fans of retired neurosurgeon and GOP presidential hopeful Ben Carson passing out free copies of a book penned by John Phil­lip Sousa’s great-grandson called <em>Ben Carson: Rx for America</em>. Not far away, the conservative Media Research Center handed out bumper stickers that proclaimed “I Don’t Believe the Liberal Media!” At a booth sponsored by Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays &amp; Gays, one could get a brochure that asked, “If only one part of you has gay feelings, should your whole life be labeled as gay?”</p><p>Representatives from the National Organization for Mar­riage, which lobbies against marriage equality, were there, looking a little forlorn. At another booth, a man in a blue-green uniform promoted Trail Life USA, a gay-free alternative to the Boy Scouts. And it wouldn’t be the Values Voter Summit without a cohort of traditionalist Roman Catholic men from the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property who attend every year wearing cheap red capes.</p><p>Some of the exhibits may have been wacky, but the discussion in the main ballroom was anything but. At times it was pretty frightening.</p><p>That was especially true this year, since the 2015 edition of the VVS featured a parade of GOP presidential hopefuls who turned out to placate the Religious Right in their pursuit of the party’s presidential nomination next year. Besides Cruz, most of the high-profile conservative candidates made appearances, including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Carson and even Donald Trump.</p><p>Each of these men tried, with varying degrees of success, to assure the assembly that if elected president he would address the number-one concern of the so-called values voters, which, based on the results of the straw poll, is “protecting religious liberty.”</p><p>Carson, who has never held elected office, was a popular candidate at the Summit – he finished second in the presidential straw poll at 18 percent. During his remarks, Carson mainly offered economic proposals and a denunciation of socialism delivered with his characteristic subdued style, but near the end he began bemoaning the alleged removal of God from American society.</p><p>“What are our values? [O]ne nation, under God,” Carson told the crowd. “We have to stop allowing the progressives to drive God out of our land. We must be willing to stand up for it. Because as they drive him out, look at the direction we’re going in. It’s a downward spiral.”</p><p>Other candidates had some trouble convincing the throng that they would do the Religious Right’s bidding if elected. Trump, who at the time of the Summit was leading in the national polls, brought a Bible with him to literally wave.</p><p>“Most importantly, I brought my Bible,” Trump said while holding the book aloft, as if trying to prove that he is a genuine religious conservative – a claim he never made until this year.</p><p>Trump’s remarks consisted of a stream-of-consciousness farrago of grandiose promises, immigrant bashing and dire warnings about the Iran nuclear deal, but he stumbled when he criticized Rubio, calling the Florida senator a “clown.” That insult drew loud boos from the audience, which clearly preferred Rubio to the pompous businessman (Rub­io received 13 percent in the straw poll to Trump’s 5 percent).</p><p>Trump, who waited until the last minute to announce he would attend the VVS, attempted to recover by declaring himself a willing combatant against the so-called “War on Christmas,” even asserting that as president, he would somehow mandate the use of the word.</p><p>“The word Christmas; I love Christmas,” Trump said. “You go to stores now, you don’t see the word Christmas. It says ‘Happy Holidays’ – all over. I say, ‘Where’s Christmas?’ I tell my wife, ‘Don’t go to those stores….’ You’re going to see [Merry Christmas] if I get elected.” </p><p>As he exited the stage, Trump again hoisted his Bible and proclaimed, “This is the key.”</p><p>Perhaps the biggest loser among the presidential hopefuls was U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). Graham clearly misunderstood his audience, reminding them that he is unmarried and has no children. He received just four total votes in the straw poll, one fewer than U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a socialist who is running for the White House as a Democrat and who didn’t speak at the Summit.</p><p>Another candidate who struggled with the VVS crowd was a one-time favorite, Santorum. The 2011 and 2012 VVS darling, who has barely registered in national polls in 2015, failed to recapture the popularity he achieved with the far-right crowd years ago.</p><p>While Santorum was politely received, the feeling that he is a has-been – he hasn’t held office since he lost his Senate seat in 2006 by 19 points – hung over the man. In an attempt to slow down Trump’s momentum, Santorum positioned himself as a kind of anti-Trump, subtly implying that the millionaire real estate magnate is a Johnny-come-lately to social conservatism.</p><p>“You want a fighter you can trust? Then go with a fighter you trusted,” Santorum implored.</p><p>It didn’t work. At one point, Santorum asked, “Who has the vision to win the presidency and lead this country?” Someone in the audience shouted out in response: “Ted Cruz!”</p><p>That wouldn’t be the last time the crowd got unruly. The Summit has long been a hive of anti-Obama sentiment, and from time to time, crowd members shouted things like “treason!” at the mention of the president’s name. But this year, at least one conference attendee had something far darker in mind. During remarks by U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R­-Texas), a mention of Obama prompted one woman to shout, “Hang him!” Gohmert made no attempt to chastise the interloper. </p><p>Of course the VVS crowd’s hatred was not limited to the president. Anger is always the prevailing emotion at the Summit, and much of the ire this year was directed at the U.S. Supreme Court, thanks to its decision in <em>Obergefell v. Hodges</em>, which legalized marriage equality throughout the United States. Three months after that ruling, the far right is still fuming.</p><p>“We’ve got a Supreme Court who thinks they’re smarter than God in redefining marriage,” Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, yet another GOP presidential aspirant, said.</p><p>Jason Benham, who along with his twin, David, lost a reality TV show on HGTV after their homophobic views became public, echoed Jindal’s sentiment that the Supreme Court had somehow defied God.</p><p>“The Supreme Court is not supreme and it will bow before a king, and his name is Jesus,” Jason Benham claimed.</p><p>Carped conservative radio talk show host Mark Levin, “We have a Supreme Court that exists to enforce, apparently, secularism. That’s not the Supreme Court’s job…. Who do you think these men in black robes are? Who do you think these women in black robes are?”</p><p>Of course the <em>Obergefell</em> ruling was also significant because it led to Davis’ religion-based refusal to issue marriage licenses to all couples, resulting in her eventual imprisonment for six days. Davis is a hero to the VVS crowd, and she was a hot topic throughout the weekend. In fact, she showed up to accept the FRC’s “Cost of Discipleship” award and made brief remarks.</p><p>The discussion of Davis at the Summit, and talk of “religious freedom” more generally, revealed a wider truth: Far-right fundamentalists have a curious definition of “religious freedom” – to them it includes the right of a government official to refuse to do her job – and they’re willing to crush anyone who dares to disagree.</p><p>Kelly Shackelford, head of the Texas-based Religious Right legal group Liberty Institute, slammed U.S. District Judge David Bunning for sentencing Davis to jail, even though Bunning gave Davis plenty of chances to avoid lockup.</p><p>Calling Bunning, an appointee of President George W. Bush, “a judge who is out of control,” Shackelford told the crowd, “Frankly, I thought he should have been impeached.” </p><p>Others were blunt about their desire to protect Christian speech only.</p><p>“We believe we have a religious liberty issue in America today, but it’s more like a Christian liberty issue,” said David Benham.</p><p>Some feared for the fate of Christians specifically in the U.S. military, even though Christians comprise the overwhelming majority of the armed forces.</p><p>“[N]ow we see an unprecedented level of persecution against Christians in our military, while it seems that anyone else of any ilk, whether it be your sexual orientation or whether it be the Islamic faith, seems to be a protected class,” carped retired Army Lt. Gen. William G. “Jerry” Boykin, FRC’s executive vice president.</p><p>While much of the military discussion at the Summit concerned the United States’ nuclear agreement with Iran, some ex-service members insisted that without fundamentalist religion in the ranks, the military will slowly decay. Retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon made the unsubstantiated claim that the end of “Don’t ask, Don’t tell,” the policy that prevented gays from serving openly in the military prior to 2011, has led to an enormous spike in sexual assaults on men.</p><p>“Right now, I think the biggest impact on [military] readiness, other than the fact that male-on-male sexual assault has almost gone [up] threefold as it was before the repeal of ‘Don’t ask, Don’t tell,’ is the faith and confidence of those soldiers of faith that are inside the military” said Mixon, who once received a reprimand for his outspoken opposition to the “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” policy repeal. “And look, I think we would all agree that everybody should be treated with dignity and respect, and nobody should be harassed in this country. However, what we’re seeing is that same thing being turned on its head against those people of faith inside the military. They’re going to lose faith with the institution….” (The claim that sexual assaults by men on other men have spiked in the military is made frequently by Religious Right groups, but there is no evidence to support it.)</p><p>Another retired commander, U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney, made the bizarre and baseless claim that Obama’s health-care reform would one day wipe out the military entirely.</p><p>“Obamacare will ensure that we never have a military again because it’s a bottomless pit,” he said.</p><p>One speaker even managed to sum up the Religious Right’s radical view that the military cannot be effective unless it is comprised of people who believe in God.</p><p>“[If] people of faith form the backbone of our military, and they’re not joining the military and they’re getting out of the military, what does that leave us with? A spineless military,” said Michael Berry, a former attorney in the U.S. Marine Corps who now works for Liberty Institute.</p><p>Another area of concern for VVS attendees is public schools, which the Religious Right doesn’t care for because the U.S. Constitution prevents religious indoctrination from being part of the curriculum. Star Parker, a boisterous speaker who claims she once lived luxuriously while on welfare but now spends her time attacking public assistance programs, said no Christians should send their child to a public school.</p><p>“While the Christian community was sleeping [in the 1960s], liberals declared a war on religion, weakening our public institutions and opening the door to a culture of corruption,” Parker bemoaned. “They scrubbed our schools of all reference of God…. Any Christian parent who still has their child in one of these cesspools we call public schools is going to receive back a liberal.”</p><p>Parker, one of the few non-white voices at the Summit, was upset because the U.S. Supreme Court struck down mandatory prayer and Bible reading in public schools. She refused to acknowledge that students remain free to pray and read the Bible in school, as long as they do it on their own or in small groups without infringing on anyone else’s rights. </p><p>When it comes to fundamentalist Christians, however, they are usually not interested in respecting the rights of anyone else – especially in public schools. For a great example of that consider the case of Roy Costner IV, who as a South Carolina high school valedictorian in 2013 gave a commencement speech that consisted of the entire Lord’s Prayer. As if that were not bad enough, Costner had been asked to keep his remarks free of coercive prayer but instead tore up his pre-approved speech in favor of a sectarian message. Costner, who was treated like a hero at the Summit, expressed no remorse for his defiance of the First Amendment. Instead, he encouraged other Christians to act as he did in the public arena.</p><p>“We’ve got to take a stand for what’s biblically correct, not politically,” he said.</p><p>He also called on other young, right-wing Christians to stand up for their idea of “religious freedom.”</p><p> “There is 71 percent of the population here in the United States that are Christian…,” Costner said. “We need to get back to those core values [of Christianity], and it’s up to the millennials to do that.” </p><p>But it wasn’t all gloom and doom. On Friday night, Summiteers were entertained by Scott Wood, a right-wing comedian who offered a string of jokes about dumb blondes, corporal punishment and domestic violence, capping it off with this gem: “Subway’s got a new sandwich, the Obama. Six feet tall and full of bologna!”</p><p>Of course no VVS would be complete without someone denying that the U.S. Constitution provides for church-state separation. This year that was left to Mark Levin.</p><p> “Separation of church and state is not in the Declaration, it’s not in the Constitution,” the right-wing radio host intoned. “It’s in a letter that [Thomas] Jefferson wrote. I’m a big admirer of Jefferson. Jefferson was not at the Constitutional Convention.”</p><p> For someone who claims to admire Jefferson, Levin clearly does not know much about him, the other Founding Fathers or what they intended when they drafted the First Amendment. But that is typical of Summit speakers – they make statements without knowing all the facts, or if they know all the facts and don’t like them, they just make something up. </p><p>The VVS has been going for 10 years now and isn’t likely to stop. In every attendee’s packet was a flyer promoting the 2016 Values Voter Summit, which will take place Sept. 9-11. An early-bird discount is available to anyone willing to sign up now. </p><p> </p><p><em>Editor’s Note: This story contains additional reporting by Sarah Jones and Rob Boston.</em></p></div></div><a href="/about/people/simon-brown">Simon Brown</a><h3 >Partisanship And Extremism On Display At The Religious Right&#039;s Values Voter&nbsp;Summit</h3><div class="field field-name-field-cs-department field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Featured</div></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/descriptions-and-activities-religious-right-groups">Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups</a></span></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-cs-issue field-type-node-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Magazine Issue:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><article id="node-11500" class="node node-church-state-issue clearfix">
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<h2><a href="/church-state/november-2015-church-state">
The <span class="cs-month field">November</span> <span class="cs-year field"><span class="date-display-single">2015</span></span> issue of <em>Church &amp; State</em>
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<div class="views-field views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="/church-state/november-2015-church-state/people-events/controversy-swirls-over-pope-s-meeting-with">Controversy Swirls Over Pope’s Meeting With Kim Davis During D.C. Visit</a></span> </div></li>
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<div class="views-field views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="/church-state/november-2015-church-state/people-events/au-warns-kan-official-to-stop-promoting">AU Warns Kan. Official To Stop Promoting Religious Events To Employees</a></span> </div></li>
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<div class="views-field views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="/church-state/november-2015-church-state/perspective/dakota-denver-and-the-desert-details-from-a">Dakota, Denver, And The Desert: Details From A Recent Trip</a></span> </div></li>
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<div class="views-field views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="/church-state/november-2015-church-state/editorial/dismissing-jefferson-more-bad-history-from-the">Dismissing Jefferson: More Bad History From The Religious Right </a></span> </div></li>
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</div></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/values-voter-summit">Values Voter Summit</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/sen-ted-cruz">Sen. Ted Cruz</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/tony-perkins">Tony Perkins</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/family-research-council-frc">Family research Council (FRC)</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/rick-santorum">Rick Santorum</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/sen-marco-rubio">Sen. Marco Rubio</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/mike-huckabee">Mike Huckabee</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/sen-lindsey-graham">Sen. Lindsey Graham</a></span></div></div>Sun, 01 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0000Timothy Ritz11501 at https://au.orghttps://au.org/church-state/november-2015-church-state/featured/lost-weekend#commentsWarped Weekend: Extreme Comments From The Values Voter Summithttps://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/warped-weekend-extreme-comments-from-the-values-voter-summit
<a href="/about/people/simon-brown">Simon Brown</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Multiple speakers at the Summit complained about the nuclear deal with Iran, as well as the Planned Parenthood “sting videos,” but there was also a great deal of talk about the eroding of “religious liberty” throughout the United States. Of course when this bunch talks about “religious liberty,” they only mean First Amendment rights for Christians. Everyone else is out of luck as far as they’re concerned.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>The “Values Voter Summit” (VVS), an annual Religious Right gathering in Washington, D.C., took place over the weekend. The rhetoric at the confab, which is now in its 10th year, is pretty consistent: speakers preach Christian “persecution,” Islamophobia, homophobia, dissatisfaction with the federal government and religious revivalism to whip about 3,000 attendees into a frenzy.</p><p>The Summit, which is sponsored mainly by the Family Research Council, as well as the American Family Association, Liberty Counsel, Liberty Institute, Heritage Foundation and others, is essentially a rally meant to scare far-right evangelical Christians and other religious conservatives into voting for political candidates favored by the Religious Right’s leadership.</p><p>Since 2016 is a presidential election year, multiple GOP presidential candidates attended in order to kiss the Religious Right ring, including Donald Trump, Dr. Ben Carson, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), La. Gov. Bobby Jindal, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.).</p><p>Although Trump has been leading the national polls for weeks, he got a fairly tepid response from the fundamentalist crowd: in the <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/ted-cruz-wins-values-voter-summit-straw-poll">VVS straw poll</a>, he received just 5 percent of the vote. The poll was won by Cruz for the third-straight year, with 35 percent, while Carson finished second at 18 percent.</p><p>Multiple speakers at the Summit complained about the nuclear deal with Iran, as well as the Planned Parenthood “sting videos,” but there was also a great deal of talk about the eroding of “religious liberty” throughout the United States. Of course when this bunch talks about “religious liberty,” they only mean First Amendment rights for Christians. Everyone else is out of luck as far as they’re concerned.</p><p>They also railed against the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in <em>Obergefell v. Hodges</em>, which legalized marriage equality. To most that ruling was a landmark moment for human rights, but to the Religious Right it was an instance of five “unelected judges” forcing secularism on the rest of the country.</p><p>Multiple Americans United staffers attended the Summit once again this year, and here is some of what we heard. (Reader discretion is advised.)</p><p>* Rubio said that if he is elected president, his religious beliefs will inform his policy decisions: “[A]s a Christian, I am taught from the earliest days of my life that I’m supposed to model Jesus Christ…. And so people better hope that my faith influences the way I govern.”</p><p>* Cruz praised Rowan County, Ky., Clerk <a href="https://au.org/media/press-releases/kim-davis-should-go-back-to-jail-if-she-interferes-with-deputy-clerks-ability">Kim Davis</a>, because she stood for the far-right’s warped idea of religious liberty. “Just a couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit Kim in a Kentucky jailhouse…. I told her, I said ‘Kim, thank you.’ I said ‘Kim, you are inspiring millions across this country by standing for your faith.’”</p><p>* Carson expressed fear that God is being forced out of public life in America. “What are our values? [O]ne nation, under God. We have to stop allowing the progressives to drive God out of our land. We must be willing to stand up for it. Because as they drive him out, look at the direction we’re going in. It’s a downward spiral.”</p><p>* Trump said if he becomes president, he plans to do battle in the so-called “War on Christmas.” That was an ironic proclamation since that “war” mainly plays out on the Fox News Channel, which <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/donald-trump-fox-news-213971">Trump is famously feuding with right now</a>. “I love Christmas. You go to stores now, you don’t see the word Christmas. It says ‘happy holidays.’ I say, ‘Where’s Christmas…?’ You’re going to see [Merry Christmas] if I get elected.”</p><p>* Mark Levin, a conservative radio talk show host popular with the VVS crowd, told the old lie that church-state separation is not in the U.S. Constitution. “Separation of church and state is not in the Declaration, it’s not in the Constitution. It's in a letter that [Thomas] Jefferson wrote.... Jefferson was not at the Constitutional Convention.”</p><p>These were just some examples of the frightening (and whacky) claims made by speakers at the VVS last week. Stay tuned, because there is much more to come from AU on this topic including a feature story in the November issue of <em>Church &amp; State</em> magazine.</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/descriptions-and-activities-religious-right-groups">Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/ben-carson">Ben Carson</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/marco-rubio">Marco Rubio</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/ted-cruz">Ted Cruz</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/values-voter-summit">Values Voter Summit</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/family-research-council">Family Research Council</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/mike-huckabee">Mike Huckabee</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/mark-levin">Mark Levin</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/kim-davis">Kim Davis</a></span></div></div>Mon, 28 Sep 2015 16:15:14 +0000Simon Brown11432 at https://au.orghttps://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/warped-weekend-extreme-comments-from-the-values-voter-summit#commentsRadical Reactions: Yes, The Religious Right Is Freaking Out Over The Marriage Equality Rulinghttps://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/radical-reactions-yes-the-religious-right-is-freaking-out-over-the-marriage
<a href="/about/people/barry-w-lynn">Barry W. Lynn</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association tweeted, &quot;June 26, 2015: I saw Satan dancing with delight, the day the music died in the United States of America.”</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p><em>The Washington Post </em>over the weekend published a rather silly column online by Judd Birdsall, managing director of the Cambridge Institute on Religion &amp; International Studies, asserting that opponents of same-sex marriage had reacted gracefully to Friday’s U.S. Supreme Court.</p><p>Birdsall asserted that groups like Americans United had unfairly tarred marriage equality foes as extremists when in fact their responses had been tempered. He noted my <a href="https://www.au.org/media/press-releases/supreme-court-decision-on-marriage-equality-will-spur-new-round-of-religious">comment on Friday</a>: “Today love and the Constitution triumphed over bigotry and religious extremism. That’s a great step, but no one should expect the Religious Right and its political allies to give up. They are already working to throw up as many roadblocks as possible to prevent LGBT Americans from claiming their hard-won rights.”</p><p>I’m not sure which cave Birdsall has been residing in, but it’s time for him to come out. He notes that groups like the National Association of Evangelicals, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued measure statements. That’s true. But there are some other statements Birdsall might want to look up. AU Director of Communications Rob Boston has been collecting them. Here is a sample:</p><p>* Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who earlier <a href="http://www.christiantoday.com/article/criminalising.christianity.mike.huckabee.says.legalising.same.sex.marriage.threatens.religious.liberty/56732.htm">claimed that equality will</a> “threaten the foundation of religious liberty, criminalize Christianity, and demand that Americans abandon Biblical principles of natural marriage,” issued a statement in which <a href="http://mikehuckabee.com/blogs?ID=3CAAABD5-9321-47FC-8D71-1156A6F56FB7">he fulminated</a>, “The Supreme Court has spoken with a very divided voice on something only the Supreme Being can do – redefine marriage. I will not acquiesce to an imperial court any more than our Founders acquiesced to an imperial British monarch. We must resist and reject judicial tyranny, not retreat.”</p><p>* Rick Santorum, who is also seeking the presidency, dredged up the inevitable <em><a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/rick-santorum-statement-gay-marriage">Dred Scott comparison</a></em>. He <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/rick-santorum-justice-kennedy-is-potentially-disrupting-the?utm_term=.vi7pE0ZnE#.pypEV4A359">later added</a> that the court’s ruling is “potentially disrupting the foundation of the world.”</p><p>* Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker called for a <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/scott-walker-ban-gay-marriage-constitutional-amendment-119470.html">constitutional amendment</a>. Upping the ante, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz said it’s time for a <a href="https://twitter.com/teddyschleifer/status/614507350297186304">new Constitutional Convention</a>. (Maybe Cruz plans to go for the trifecta and also overturn the health-care and housing decisions from last week.)</p><p>* Liberty Counsel’s Mat Staver, in an audio clip, said “we cannot obey” the ruling. (It’s unclear how Staver plans to disobey a ruling that doesn’t require him to do anything other than mind his own business.)</p><p>* Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, was very unhappy. In a statement Perkins asserted, “No court can overturn natural law. Nature and Nature’s God, hailed by the signers of our Declaration of Independence as the very source of law, cannot be usurped by the edict of a court, even the United States Supreme Court.”</p><p>* Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association (AFA), was so distraught he made two statements. The <a href="http://www.afa.net/the-stand/press-releases/rogue-court-rejects-rule-of-law/">first</a> accused a “Rogue Court” of rejecting the rule of law. It asserts, “Sadly, our nation’s highest Court, which should be a symbol of justice, has chosen instead to be a tool of tyranny, elevating judicial will above the will of the people.” Wildmon later issued <a href="http://www.onenewsnow.com/culture/2015/06/26/scotus-ruling-on-marriage-a-spiritual-911?utm_source=OneNewsNow&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=16781399&amp;utm_content=105486778159&amp;utm_campaign=19753">another statement</a> that said in part, “I fear for our country, quite frankly, because this is a spiritual 9/11, I believe. We have said to God Almighty, We don't care what you say about marriage and your definition of what's natural and normal. If you look in the scripture, often times when God's people rebelled against Him, He turned them over to destruction. Christians need to pray for mercy and we need to pray for a revival in the land.”</p><p>* Richard Land, a former chief lobbyist for the Southern Baptist Convention and now president of Southern Evangelical Seminary, released this statement: “Now the battlefield shifts to religious freedom. Will the progressive, totalitarian and intolerant left weaponize the government and attempt to force or compel people to affirm same-sex behavior and relationships? Or will they respect the freedom of conscience guaranteed by the Constitution? These will continue to be questions for the coming generations, now that the high Court has seized the historic role of defining marriage from the individual states and stripped it away from voters.”</p><p>There were other strange reactions. A football player with the Minnesota Vikings <a href="http://deadspin.com/vikings-cb-same-sex-marriage-ruling-one-step-closer-to-1714178473">decided to weigh in</a> with his opinion that the ruling will lead to pedophilia. Bryan Fischer of the AFA went on a tear and tweeted these gems: “Great need of the hour: governors who will defy the Supreme Court, refuse to issue sodomy-based licenses in their states” and “June 26, 2015: the day the twin towers of truth and righteousness were blown up by moral jihadists.” Wait, there’s more: “June 26, 2015: I saw Satan dancing with delight, the day the music died in the United States of America.”</p><p>Charming.</p><p>And then there’s the Rev. Rick Scarborough. Scarborough, a Texas pastor who is a kind of poor man’s Jerry Falwell, vowed that he and other pastors would <a href="http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/brint/texas_pastor_says_hell_self_himself_on_fire_in_protest_of_equality">set themselves on fire</a> if the high court ruled in favor of marriage equality. (Not surprisingly, Scarborough is <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/26/rick-scarborough-fire-gay-marriage_n_7674990.html">backing away from the claim</a> now that the decision has come down. He was speaking metaphorically, you see.)</p><p>(In the midst of all of this craziness, I was amused by the reaction of one group, the Liberty Institute, a Texas-based Religious Right legal outfit, which actually tried to spin the decision as a win. Its rather curious press release noted, “As today’s Supreme Court ruling recognizes, Americans have a constitutional right to speak and act according to their beliefs.” That has never really been in doubt, of course.)</p><p>I’m just scratching the surface here of some of the more extreme statements. Folks like Birdsall may not like it, but the groups and individuals behind these comments represent millions of right-wing evangelicals and ultra-conservative Catholics.</p><p>And they sound pretty extreme to me.</p><p>But statements like this are just talk, right? Sadly, no. We’re already seeing <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/opponents-divided-how-or-whether-to-resist-supreme-court-ruling/2015/06/26/3219f626-1c12-11e5-ab92-c75ae6ab94b5_story.html">resistance to the ruling</a>. Same-sex couples still can’t get married in Louisiana, where Gov. Bobby Jindal initially announced that the state <a href="http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/06/bobby_jindal_administration_sa_1.html">won’t comply with the ruling</a> – although he now seems to be <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/jindal-louisiana-will-comply-same-sex-marriage-ruling-n383381">backing off</a>.</p><p>Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has issued <a href="http://tfninsider.org/2015/06/28/texas-attorney-general-ken-paxton-declares-war-on-the-constitution/">an opinion</a> asserting that government officials may have a “religious freedom” right to refuse service to same-sex couples.</p><p>In Alabama, officials in two counties have announced they will <a href="http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/06/alabama_probate_office_closes.html">stop performing</a> all weddings rather than let same-sex couples get married. Roy Moore, the state’s infamous chief justice, says the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling is worse than 19th century rulings <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/26/politics/roy-moore-conservatives-gay-marriage-alabama-react/">upholding racial segregation</a>. (Americans United and allied organizations, which had already sued over the issue, are demanding immediate compliance with the decision.)</p><p>When the Supreme Court asserts the validity of justice and equal treatment and recognizes the indignity of failing to allow equal access to a fundamental right, it should be applauded by all rational Americans.</p><p>I don’t fear passage of a constitutional amendment. (The U.S. House of Representatives voted on a marriage amendment in July of 2006, where it fell way short of the votes requires for passage.) The concern in my comment cited by Birdsall is that the Religious Right and its political allies will now seize upon the Supreme Court’s clearly mistaken definition of “religious liberty” as outlined in last term’s <em>Hobby Lobby</em> decision to renew its efforts to hurt the LGBT community by trying to exempt businesses that provide services for weddings, housing, dining, etc. from public accommodation and civil-rights laws.</p><p>Finally, I always resist comparing Christian extremists generally with Islamic murderers, torturers and beheaders. However, to ignore the actions by some Christian extremists – such as the murderers of Drs. George Tiller and Barnett Slepian (among others) – and the harassment and bullying that has led to the suicides of LGBT youth is to ignore the atrocities that bigotry and extremism often spawn.</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/marriage">Marriage</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/rick-santorum">Rick Santorum</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/mike-huckabee">Mike Huckabee</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/scott-walker">Scott Walker</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/american-family-association">American Family Association</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/bryan-fischer">Bryan Fischer</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/tony-perkins">Tony Perkins</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/family-research-council">Family Research Council</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/tim-wildmon">Tim Wildmon</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/rick-scarborough">Rick Scarborough</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/richard-land">richard land</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/judd-birdsall">Judd Birdsall</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/ken-paxton">Ken Paxton</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/bobby-jindal">Bobby Jindal</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/same-sex-marriage">same-sex marriage</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/supreme-court">Supreme Court</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/au-celebrates-and-defends-marriage-equality">AU Celebrates -- And Defends -- Marriage Equality!</a></span></div></div>Mon, 29 Jun 2015 14:30:52 +0000Rob Boston11211 at https://au.orghttps://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/radical-reactions-yes-the-religious-right-is-freaking-out-over-the-marriage#commentsLong Live The Culture Wars: Could Social Issues Dominate In 2016?https://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/long-live-the-culture-wars-could-social-issues-dominate-in-2016
<a href="/about/people/barry-w-lynn">Barry W. Lynn</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Some of the GOP front-runners sound like tent evangelists these days.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Conventional wisdom holds that social issues won’t have much impact on the 2016 presidential election. Americans are more concerned about jobs and the economy, and besides, some recent polls show that Americans are less religious and moving to the left on social issues.</p><p>That’s the conventional wisdom. But there’s a problem – conventional wisdom can be, and often is, wrong.</p><p>The fact is, social issues are bound to play a role in 2016, possibly a big one – if only because most of the Republican candidates keep talking about them. The ever-expanding field includes three men who are known chiefly for their opposition to marriage equality, legal abortion and church-state separation.</p><p>It’s true that Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee and Ben Carson are considered second-tier candidates (maybe third-tier, actually), but even some of the GOP front-runners sound like tent evangelists these days.</p><p>Consider Jeb Bush, who is announcing his candidacy today. Bush has a checkered history when it comes to church-state relations, and that’s putting it charitably. I like to think of him as the nation’s first “faith-based” governor. As Florida’s chief executive, he championed a private school voucher plan that diverted tax money to mainly religious schools. (The Florida Supreme Court invalidated the program, but it is being exported to other states. Nevada adopted a version of it recently.)</p><p>Bush established <a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/january-2004-church-state/au-bulletin/faith-based-prison-to-open-in-florida">“faith-based” prisons</a> in the state and went so far as to sponsor a <a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/november-2005-church-state/au-bulletin/florida-governor-promotes-christian-book">school reading project</a> centered on the <em>Chronicles of Narnia</em>, a Christian allegory. He also rammed special legislation though the statehouse that made it possible for Domino’s Pizza magnate Thomas Monaghan to create his own <a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/january-2015-church-state/featured/a-catholic-city">“Catholic” town</a> called Ave Maria.</p><p>Bush’s intervention in the Terri Schiavo case is well known, but his <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/25/jeb-bush-abortion_n_6940568.html">vociferous opposition to legal abortion</a> has attracted less attention. Bush once described himself as “probably the most pro-life governor in modern times” and on several occasions intervened to prevent minors or incapacitated women from obtaining abortions. As governor, he signed legislation outlawing certain types of abortions; he has now thrown his support behind a bill to ban abortion after 20 weeks. He has praised efforts to curtail Americans’ <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/09/us-usa-election-bush-idUSKBN0NU0L820150509">access to birth control</a> and criticized the contraceptive mandate of the Affordable Care Act.</p><p>And let’s look at Scott Walker. The Wisconsin governor -- techincally not a candidate yet, but he sure sounds like one -- for many years was more interested in busting unions than pushing religion. (Although, as a member of the legislature, Walker did <a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/may-2015-church-state/people-events/website-explores-scott-walker-attack-on-wiccan">throw a holy fit</a> when a prison hired a Wiccan priestess as chaplain.) Suddenly Walker is saying he’s not sure President Barack Obama <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/walker-says-he-is-unaware-whether-obama-is-a-christian/2015/02/21/6fde0bd0-ba17-11e4-bc30-a4e75503948a_story.html">is a Christian</a>, refusing to say if he accepts <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/11/scott-walker-dodges-question-on-whether-he-believes-in-evolution_n_6663218.html">the reality of evolution</a> and calling for strict <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ahead-of-2016-bid-scott-walker-pushes-abortion-restrictions/2015/06/11/098c6512-0f84-11e5-9726-49d6fa26a8c6_story.html">anti-abortion laws</a>.</p><p>Here’s another reason social issues will loom large for at least some of the campaign: marriage equality. In a matter of weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court will hand down a decision in <em><a href="http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/obergefell-v-hodges/">Obergefell v. Hodges</a></em>, a case that may extend same-sex marriage nationwide. Some states, chiefly Indiana, North Carolina and Michigan, are already <a href="http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-06-14/north-carolina-s-new-hurdle-for-gay-marriage">passing legislation</a> designed to blunt the effects of this ruling by making it harder for gay couples to get married, adopt children and so on.</p><p>The <em>Obergefell</em> decision will lead to a new round of battles. Some states will seek to pass legislation granting the owners of for-profit business (such as florists, bakers, photographers, caterers, etc.) the right to refuse service to same-sex couples under the guise of “religious freedom.” Some will even try to extend this “right” to government officials, such as magistrates and licensing clerks.</p><p>GOP candidates will be forced to take a stand on these bills. Most will be happy to endorse them because that gives them an opportunity to shore up conservative bona fides with some of that old-fashioned gay bashing. (Walker has already endorsed a constitutional amendment to overturn a ruling that hasn’t come down yet.) Some unannounced candidates – I’m talking to you, Bobby Jindal – have been riding the anti-LGBT wave for months.</p><p>There’s one more reason why social issues aren’t going away quietly: The Religious Right doesn’t want them to – and the Religious Right is too powerful a force in the GOP to be ignored.</p><p>Religious Right organizations have already sponsored several “beauty pageants” to size up the candidates. More are on the way <a href="http://www.roadtomajority.com/">this summer</a> and <a href="http://www.valuesvotersummit.org/">fall</a>. Although I strongly disagree with the agenda of the Religious Right, I acknowledge that the movement’s voters are often a force to be reckoned with come Election Day because they tend to turn out.</p><p>Simply put, issues like marriage equality, abortion, the role of religion in public schools and yes, even what pronoun to use when referring to Caitlyn Jenner matter to these voters. GOP aspirants can’t dodge them – and many don’t want to.</p><p>Polls do indicate that the long-term prognosis for the Religious Right is not good. Its core constituency is aging; millennials, even self-identified Republican ones, are openly accepting of LGBT rights and same-sex marriage. In addition, interest in institutionalized religion is waning in America. (But don’t confuse this with a lack of interest in religion generally; Americans remain a spiritual people.) As fundamentalist churches lose members, they will be less effective as units for political organizing.</p><p>The <a href="http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/">long-term demographics</a> are interesting but none of this is going to play out so quickly that it upsets the political applecart next year. What will matter is turnout and what type of coalition each party’s standard-bearer can cobble together. A candidate doesn’t necessarily win because lots of people agree with him or her; a candidate wins because the people who agree with him or her take the time to go to the polls.</p><p>The Republican hopefuls know this – and they know what types of messages will engage their base of so-called “values voters.” Most Americans don’t want a campaign focused on social issues. But a close election that hinges on turning out base voters may create a perfect storm where the “culture wars” become powerful enough to push other issues out of the picture.</p><p> </p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/religious-groups-involvement-in-candidate-elections">Religious Groups’ Involvement in Candidate Elections</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/descriptions-and-activities-religious-right-groups">Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/jeb-bush">Jeb Bush</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/rick-santorum">Rick Santorum</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/ben-carson">Ben Carson</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/mike-huckabee">Mike Huckabee</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/scott-walker">Scott Walker</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/same-sex-marriage">same-sex marriage</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/caitlyn-jenner">Caitlyn Jenner</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/ave-maria">Ave Maria</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/thomas-monaghan">Thomas Monaghan</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/narnia">Narnia</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/bobby-jindal">Bobby Jindal</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/terri-schiavo">Terri Schiavo</a></span></div></div>Mon, 15 Jun 2015 14:34:24 +0000Rob Boston11189 at https://au.orghttps://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/long-live-the-culture-wars-could-social-issues-dominate-in-2016#commentsReligious Right Grills GOP Presidential Candidates During Iowa Forumhttps://au.org/church-state/june-2015-church-state/people-events/religious-right-grills-gop-presidential-candidates
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>A group of Republican presidential hopefuls recently gathered in Iowa, each hoping to woo and win Religious Right activists ahead of the 2016 election.</p><p>At an event hosted by Ralph Reed’s Faith and Freedom Coalition in April, nine potential and declared candidates, including U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas), former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.), tried to win the support of far-right social conservatives. </p><p>The Dallas <em>Morning News</em> reported that more than 1,000 people attended the event, which was held in a church and lasted more than five hours. The newspaper described the candidates’ speeches as “fiery testimonial,” with Cruz and Huckabee drawing standing ovations before their remarks even got under way.</p><p>Huckabee claimed some in the United States wish to “criminalize Christianity,” insisting that “the single greatest threat to all of our freedoms is the threat to your religious freedom.”</p><p>Cruz walked a similar path when he accused liberals of demonizing Christianity, particularly in public spaces.</p><p>“The greatest trick the left has ever played is to convince conservatives that America doesn’t share our values,” he said.</p><p>Some evangelicals who attended the event expressed concern that there are too many options – even with the 2016 presidential election more than one year away.</p><p>“I’ve heard it from a lot of people in the grassroots that we don’t want to split our votes and let the establishment guy take it,” said Steve Deace, an Iowa radio host and conservative leader. (Deace was referring to the 2008 GOP presidential nomination of U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona and the 2012 selection of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, both of whom won only grudging support from the Religious Right.)</p><p>The GOP 2016 field is expected to be crowded, and several candidates are making a play for the Religious Right vote. Huckabee and Cruz have wide appeal in that community, as does Ben Carson, a former surgeon known for his opposition to LGBT rights. Paul and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) are also courting the Religious Right. Two other politicians with high appeal to these voters, former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.) and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, are also believed to be contemplating making a run for the White House. </p><p>Analysts, such as <em>Politico</em>’s James Hohmann, said Religious Right voters may have trouble throwing all of their support behind any single candidate during the primaries.</p><p>Hohmann opined that a “splintered religious right could allow a relative moderate like Jeb Bush or Chris Christie…to win the caucuses with a plurality, a fear expressed quietly by leaders of the movement.”</p><p>Bush, the former governor of Florida, and Christie, current governor of New Jersey, both skipped the Iowa event.</p></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-cs-department field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">People &amp; Events</div></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/descriptions-and-activities-religious-right-groups">Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups</a></span></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-cs-issue field-type-node-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Magazine Issue:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><article id="node-11140" class="node node-church-state-issue clearfix">
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</div></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/faith-freedom-coalition">Faith &amp; Freedom Coalition</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/iowa">Iowa</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/mike-huckabee">Mike Huckabee</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/sen-rand-paul">Sen. Rand Paul</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/gov-rick-perry">Gov. Rick Perry</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/sen-ted-cruz">Sen. Ted Cruz</a></span></div></div>Mon, 01 Jun 2015 03:45:00 +0000Timothy Ritz11164 at https://au.orghttps://au.org/church-state/june-2015-church-state/people-events/religious-right-grills-gop-presidential-candidates#comments